Activity recognition systems and methods

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for recognizing and/or predicting activities of a user of a mobile device are disclosed. In certain embodiments, the systems and methods may predict a future activity and/or location of a mobile device user based on current and/or historical device data and/or other personal information relating to the user. In some embodiments, probabilistic determinations and/or other statistical models may be used to predict future activities and locations of a mobile device user. The disclosed systems and methods may further utilize location and/or activity recognition and/or prediction methods to deliver personalized services to a user of a mobile device at a particular time and/or location.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation under 37 C.F.R. § 1.53(b) of PriorU.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/653,129, filed Jul. 18, 2017, whichis a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/072,469, filedNov. 5, 2013 (now U.S. Pat. No. 9,736,652), which claims the benefit ofpriority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) to U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationNo. 61/723,233, filed Nov. 6, 2012, both entitled “ACTIVITY RECOGNITIONSYSTEMS AND METHODS,” which are hereby incorporated by reference intheir entirety.

COPYRIGHT AUTHORIZATION

Portions of the disclosure of this patent document may contain materialwhich is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure, as it appears in the U.S. Patent and TrademarkOffice patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY

Mobile devices have become an important part of our lives. People oftencarry mobile devices wherever they go and customize devices according totheir personal preferences, environment, and/or habits. Modern mobiledevices typically include various types of sensors and other data inputcomponents. These sensors gather data about the environment surroundingthe mobile device and/or the user of the mobile device, and may provideinformation regarding device location, motion, and/or other activities.A user may also utilize a mobile device in connection with a variety ofapplications. Monitoring such interactions may provide additionalinformation regarding a user's activities.

Information regarding a mobile device user's activities may be utilizedin a variety of contexts. For example, advertisement-based contentdistribution systems may be utilized to help fund the production ofcontent, the services that distribute the content, and the devices thatrender the content. To maximize the benefit of ad-based contentdistributions systems, advertisements delivered to a consumer shouldideally be well-matched to the interests of the consumer at a timeand/or location that the consumer is likely to purchase advertised goodsand/or services. Similarly, services that distribute offers, promotions,or other services seek to target the distribution of such materials tothose individuals most likely to be interested. Identifying and/orpredicting user activities may thus allow for more effective targetingof advertisements and other personalized services to the user.

Various systems and methods disclosed herein may be utilized torecognize and/or predict activity associated with a mobile device and/ora user thereof. In some embodiments, the disclosed systems and methodsmay recognize activities of a user of a mobile device based on sensorinformation and/or other data provided by the mobile device. In certainembodiments, the systems and methods may be utilized in connection withpredicting a future activity and/or location of the user based oncurrent and/or historical device data and/or other personal informationrelating to the user. In some embodiments, statistical Markov modelsand/or the like are used. Further embodiments of the systems and methodsdisclosed herein may utilize location and/or activity recognition and/orprediction methods to deliver personalized services to a user of amobile device at a particular time and/or location (e.g., targetedadvertising services, services that provide offers, promotions,messages, warnings, and/or the like).

In certain embodiments, a computer-implemented method may includereceiving device data collected from a mobile device and determining afirst set of user activities based on the device data. Based on thefirst set of user activities and available device data, a second set oflikely future user activities may be determined.

In some embodiments, an activity recognition system is disclosed. Theactivity recognition system may include a transceiver and a dataanalyzer. The transceiver may be configured to receive device datacollected by a mobile device. The device data may be indicative of oneor more user activities. Exemplary user activities may include, withoutlimitation, walking, running, driving, shopping, dining, watchingtelevision, visiting a location, traveling, listening to music, browsingthe Internet, sleeping, and/or the like. The data analyzer may befurther configured to determine and/or predict one or more activities ofa user associated with the mobile device based on device data. Thesystem may further include a personalized service engine configured toprovision personalized services to a user based on recognized and/orpredicted activities.

In certain embodiments, a mobile device is disclosed. The mobile devicemay include a personal agent configured to collect device data. Thedevice data may be indicative of one or more activities of a userassociated with the mobile device. Further, the device data can beutilized to determine one or more parameters related to the user.Exemplary parameters may include, without limitation, the user's name,age, home address, work address, gender, items, activities, people,places, and/or things that the user is interested in, user behaviorpatterns, the frequency that the user visits a place, and/or otherpersonal attributes that may characterize the user in some manner.

In further embodiments, a method for recognizing user activities isdisclosed. In some embodiments, the method may include identifying oneor more first candidate places corresponding to a user associated with amobile device based on device data collected by one or more sensors ofthe mobile device. A current location of the user may be determined fromone or more first candidate places based on the device data and one ormore user activities. A personalized service may be provided to the userbased on the determination.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The inventive body of work will be readily understood by referring tothe following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary ecosystem for a mobile device consistentwith embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a mobile device consistent withembodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of an activity recognition systemconsistent with embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 illustrates a flow chart of an exemplary method for recognizinguser activities consistent with embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flow chart of an exemplary method of determining aplace associated with a user consistent with embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 6 illustrates a flow chart of another exemplary method ofdetermining a place associated with a user consistent with embodimentsof the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 illustrates a conceptual diagram of a hidden Markov modelutilized in connection with predicting a future location of a userconsistent with embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 illustrates conceptual diagram of a modified hidden Markov modelutilized in connection with predicting a future location of a userconsistent with embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 9 shows exemplary algorithmic methods and associated inputs and/oroutputs for transitional behavior updating and next place predictionconsistent with embodiments disclosed herein.

FIG. 10 illustrates a conceptual diagram of geographical targetingmethods consistent with embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 11 illustrates a block diagram of a location-based inferencearchitecture consistent with embodiments disclosed herein.

FIG. 12 illustrates an exemplary system that may be used to implementembodiments of the systems and methods disclosed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A detailed description of the systems and methods consistent withembodiments of the present disclosure is provided below. While severalembodiments are described, it should be understood that the disclosureis not limited to any one embodiment, but instead encompasses numerousalternatives, modifications, and equivalents. In addition, whilenumerous specific details are set forth in the following description inorder to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments disclosedherein, some embodiments can be practiced without some or all of thesedetails. Moreover, for the purpose of clarity, certain technicalmaterial that is known in the related art has not been described indetail in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the disclosure.

Embodiments of the disclosure may be understood by reference to thedrawings, wherein like parts may be designated by like numerals. Thecomponents of the disclosed embodiments, as generally described andillustrated in the figures herein, may be arranged and designed in awide variety of different configurations. Thus, the following detaileddescription of illustrative embodiments of the systems and methods ofthe disclosure is not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure, asclaimed, but is merely representative of possible embodiments of thedisclosure. In addition, the steps of any method disclosed herein do notnecessarily need to be executed in any specific order, or evensequentially, nor need the steps be executed only once, unless otherwisespecified.

Systems and methods are described for recognizing activities of a userof a mobile device based on sensor information and/or other dataprovided by the mobile device associated with the user. In certainembodiments, the systems and methods may be utilized in connection withpredicting a future activity and/or location of the user based oncurrent and/or historical device data and/or other personal informationrelating to the user. In some embodiments, statistical Markov models maybe utilized in connection with predicting, among other things, futurelocations of a user, arrival times at such locations, and/or the like.Further embodiments of the systems and methods disclosed herein mayutilize location and/or activity recognition and/or prediction methodsto deliver personalized services to a user of a mobile device (e.g.,targeted advertising services or the like).

In certain embodiments, the systems and methods described herein can,for example, be used in connection with digital rights management(“DRM”) technologies such as that described in commonly assigned,co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/583,693, “Digital RightsManagement Engine Systems and Methods,” filed Oct. 18, 2006 andpublished as U.S. Pub. No. 2007/0180519 A1 (“the '693 application”)and/or service orchestration and DRM technologies such as thosedescribed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 8,234,387, “InteroperableSystems and Methods for Peer-to-Peer Service Orchestration” (“the '387patent”) (the contents of the '693 application and the '387 patenthereby being incorporated by reference in their entireties), as well asin other contexts. In further embodiments, the systems and methodsdescribed herein can be used in connection with personalized servicetechnologies including, for example, information targeting technologiessuch as those described in commonly assigned co-pending U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/785,406, filed May 21, 2010 (“the '406application”) and/or U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/914,538, filedJun. 10, 2013 (“the '538 application”), both of which are incorporatedherein by reference in their entirety. It will be appreciated that thesesystems and methods are novel, as are many of the components, systems,and methods employed therein.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary ecosystem 100 for a mobile device 102consistent with some embodiments of the present disclosure. Althoughillustrated as a smartphone, the mobile device 102 may comprise avariety of computing devices and systems, including any mobile systemand/or device suitable to implement the systems and methods disclosedherein. For example, mobile device 102 may comprise a laptop computersystem, a wireless communication device (e.g., a cellular telephone), asmartphone, a tablet computer, a wireless control device (e.g., keylessentry or remote start devices), a gaming or other entertainment device,and/or the like. In certain embodiments, the mobile device 102 may beassociated with a vehicle or other system associated with the user. Forexample, the mobile device 102 may comprise a telematics system, anavigational system, and/or an in-vehicle infotainment (“IVI”) systemwhich may be associated with a user's vehicle. Although FIG. 1illustrates one mobile device 102, it will be appreciated that thedisclosed embodiments are suitable for broader application, including inecosystems that comprise a plurality of mobile devices.

The mobile device 102 may be commutatively coupled to an activityrecognition system 106 and/or a database 108 via a network 104. Incertain embodiments, the network 104 may comprise a variety of networkcommunication devices and/or channels and may utilize any suitablecommunications protocols and/or standards facilitating communicationbetween the mobile device 102, the activity recognition system 106, thedatabase 108, and/or one or more other connected system or systems. Thenetwork 104 may comprise the Internet, a local area network, a virtualprivate network, and/or any other communication network utilizing one ormore electronic communication technologies and/or standards (e.g.,Ethernet or the like). In some embodiments, the network 104 may comprisea wireless carrier system such as a personal communications system(“PCS”), and/or any other suitable communication system incorporatingany suitable communication standards and/or protocols. In furtherembodiments, the network 104 may comprise an analog mobilecommunications network and/or a digital mobile communications networkutilizing, for example, code division multiple access (“CDMA”), GlobalSystem for Mobile Communications or Groupe Special Mobile (“GSM”),frequency division multiple access (“FDMA”), and/or time divisionalmultiple access (“TDMA”) standards. In certain embodiments, the network104 may incorporate one or more satellite communication links. In yetfurther embodiments, the network may utilize IEEE's 802.11 standards,Bluetooth®, ultra-wide band (“UWB”), Zigbee®, and/or any other suitablestandard or standards.

The mobile device 102, activity recognition system 106 and/or database108 may comprise any suitable computing system or systems configured toimplement embodiments of the systems and methods disclosed herein. Incertain embodiments, the mobile device 102, activity recognition system106 and/or database 108 may comprise at least one processor systemconfigured to execute instructions stored on an associatednon-transitory computer-readable storage medium. As discussed in moredetail below, the mobile device 102, activity recognition system 106and/or database 108 may further comprise a secure processing unit(“SPU”) configured to perform sensitive operations such as trustedcredential and/or key management, secure policy management, and/or otheraspects of the systems and methods disclosed herein. The mobile device102, activity recognition system 106 and/or database 108 may furthercomprise software and/or hardware configured to enable electroniccommunication of information between the devices and/or systems 102,106, 108 via network 104.

The mobile device 102 may be configured to collect device data relatingto the mobile device 102 and/or an associated user. In certainembodiments, the mobile device 102 may utilize one or more associatedsensor systems configured to measure data that may be utilized as and/orused to determine personal information relating to a user of the device104. For example, the mobile device 102 may include, without limitation,one or more accelerometers, Global Positioning System (“GPS”) sensors,acoustic sensors, infrared sensors, temperature sensors, imagingsensors, gyroscopes, proximity sensors, light sensors, magnetometers,cameras, wireless communication systems, and/or any other suitablesystem and/or sensors for detecting and/or measuring informationassociated with the mobile device 102, its surroundings, and/or a userof the device 102. Certain sensors of mobile device 102 may belocation-based sensors configured to generate personal informationrelating to a location of the mobile device 102 and/or an associateduser. Further sensors may be activity-based and/or other environmentalsensors configured to provide information relating to a usage of themobile device 102 (e.g., application usage information or the like)and/or an environment proximate to the mobile device 102. In certainembodiments, the one or more sensors of the device 102 may measurecontextual information that may be used to determine and/or infercertain personal information relating to the user (e.g., interests,regularly visited points of interest, etc.). For example, if anaccelerometer of device 102 indicates that the device 102 does not moveon average between 11:00 PM and 6:00 AM every day, it may be inferredthat the user typically sleeps between these hours.

Personal information and/or other device data collected by the mobiledevice 102 may be stored by the mobile device 102 and/or communicated tothe activity recognition system 106 and/or database 108 for storage. Incertain embodiments, the activity recognition system 106 may comprise acomputing system configured to extract and/or analyze data (e.g.,received device data). In some embodiments, the activity recognitionsystem 106 may implement one or more analytic tools and/or one or moreapplications that enable the activity recognition system 106 torecognize and/or predict one or more user activities based on receivedpersonal information and/or other device data (e.g., information anddata stored in database 108). In further embodiments, the activityrecognition system 106 may further implement one or more analytic toolsand/or applications to identify one or more parameters relating to auser, which may include personal information relating to the user, basedon device data received from mobile device 102. Although, for ease ofexplanation, activity recognition system 106 and database 108 are shownseparately from device 102, it will be appreciated that in someembodiments some or all of the functionality of some or all of thesesystems could be combined or rearranged. For example, some or all of theactivities described herein as being performed by the activityrecognition system 106 could be performed by mobile device 102 (e.g.,aspects of the activity recognition system 106 could effectively beincorporated into the mobile device 102).

In certain embodiments, the activity recognition system 106 may beconfigured to access database 108 and extract data from the database 108using any suitable method. For example, the activity recognition system106 may query the database 108 using a variety of database languagesincluding, for example, Structured Query Language (“SQL”), 4D QueryLanguage, Object Query Language, Stack Based Query Language (“SBQL”),and/or any other suitable mechanism. Although illustrated as a singlesystem, it will be appreciated that the activity recognition system 106may be implemented using a plurality of computing devices configured tojointly perform certain functions of the activity recognition system106.

The activity recognition system 106 may be associated with a serviceprovider. For example, the activity recognition system 106 may beassociated with an advertising service provider, a data collectionservice provider, a statistic service provider, and/or the like. In someembodiments, the activity recognition system 106 may providesubscription-based services to users of the mobile device 102. Forexample, the activity recognition system 106 may provide location-basedservices (e.g., geographic mapping services or the like) to the user ofthe mobile device 102 on a subscription basis. In further embodiments,services provided by the activity recognition system 106 may be providedin exchange for device data collected by the mobile device 102. Forexample, targeted advertising services provided by the activityrecognition system 106 may be provided in exchange for a user sharingpersonal information collected by the mobile device 102 with thetargeted advertising service provider.

As discussed above, personal information and/or other device datacollected by the mobile device 102 may be communicated to the database108 for storage. In certain embodiments, the database 108 may operate asa centralized repository of device data and/or other personalinformation collected by the mobile device 102. Although illustrated asa discrete database (e.g., associated with a discrete system), in otherembodiments the database 108 may be included in and/or distributedbetween the mobile device 102 and the activity recognition system 106.The database 108 may be implemented using any suitable technologyincluding, without limitation, MySQL® and/or Microsoft SQL®, and maystore data in any suitable format or formats. It will further beappreciated that although, for ease of explanation, FIG. 1 illustrates asingle mobile device 102 interacting with activity recognition system106 and database 108, in practice, activity recognition system 106and/or database 108 may interact with, and/or provide services for,multiple mobile devices.

It will be appreciated that a number of variations can be made to thearchitecture and relationships presented in connection with FIG. 1within the scope of the inventive body of work. For example, certainsystem functionalities described above (e.g., functionalities of mobiledevice 102, activity recognition system 106, and/or database 108) may beintegrated into a single system and/or any suitable combination ofsystems in any suitable configuration. Thus it will be appreciated thatthe architecture of FIG. 1 is provided for purposes of illustration andexplanation, and not limitation.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a mobile device 102 consistentwith embodiments of the present disclosure. The mobile device 102 may beembodied by a variety of computing devices and systems, including anysystem and/or device suitable to implement some or all of the systemsand methods disclosed herein. Aspects of the mobile device 102illustrated in and described below in connection with FIG. 2 may beimplemented in a variety of ways, including using software, firmware,hardware, and/or any combination thereof.

The mobile device 102 may include, without limitation, one or moreprocessors 202, transceivers 204, sensors 206, display screens 208,input devices 210 and/or memory devices 212. The one or more sensors 206may include, without limitation, one or more accelerometers, GPS sensors(e.g., assisted GPS (“A-GPS”) sensors), acoustic sensors, infraredsensors, temperature sensors, imaging sensors, gyroscopes, proximitysensors, light sensors, magnetometers, cameras, wireless communicationsystems, and/or any other suitable system and/or sensor for detectingand/or measuring data associated with the device 102 and/or itssurroundings. Sensors 206 may be implemented using any suitabletechnology or technologies including, without limitation, VLSI video,optical gyros, Micro-Electro Mechanical Systems (“MEMS”), and/or thelike. The one or more sensors 206 may be configured to measure devicedata associated with the device 102 and/or a user of the device 102. Itwill be appreciated that there are a variety of devices, systems, and/orsensors that may be utilized to implement embodiments of the systems andmethods disclosed herein, and that any suitable devices, systems, and/orsensors may be used in connection with the disclosed embodiments.

As users interact with devices and/or services, device data, includingpersonal information related to the user, may be obtained. In certainembodiments, this data may reflect in part the interests and/or behaviorpatterns of the user, and may be utilized in connection with locationand/or activity recognition and/or prediction methods consistent withembodiments disclosed herein. Device data may be provided by a userand/or be generated based on the user's activities. Device data measuredby sensors 206 may indicative of one or more states associated with themobile device 102, one or more activities of a user of the mobile device102, and/or any other parameter or personal information relating to auser of the mobile device 102. Exemplary data measured by sensors 206may include, without limitation, information relating to a location ofthe mobile device 102 and/or changes in the location of the mobiledevice 102, an orientation of the mobile device 102, informationassociated with sounds proximate to the mobile device 102, a measuredduration of the mobile device 102 being located in a particularlocation, a speed and/or moving direction of the mobile device 102,sound and/or light conditions proximate to the mobile device 102,proximity of the mobile device 102 to one or more objects and/orlocations, and/or any other information relating to the mobile device102, its environment, and/or a mobile device user.

Device data collected by the mobile device 102 and/or sensors 206included therein may comprise information regarding a user'sinteractions with the device 102. In certain embodiments, such data maycomprise information provided directly by a user of the device 102. Forexample, device data may comprise information provided by a userincluding, without limitation, personal identification informationincluding age, gender, and/or the like and content preference or otherinterest based information including preferred genres, artists, and/orthe like.

In further embodiments, device data may comprise information passivelycollected from a user's interactions with the device 102. For example,device data may comprise information relating to a user's activitieswith one or more applications executing on the device 102,location-based user behavior, and/or the like. In certain embodiments,device data may comprise metadata associated with one or moreapplications 226 installed on the mobile device 102 such as, forexample, a web browser application, a gaming application, a musicapplication, a social networking application, an email application,and/or the like. For example, device data may comprise metadataassociated with one or more websites viewed by a user of the mobiledevice 102 using a web browser application. In another example, devicedata may comprise metadata associated with use of a social networkingapplication utilized by the user on the mobile device 102.

In some embodiments, device data may be gathered, managed, maintained,and/or stored locally on the mobile device 102. In further embodiments,device data may be gathered, managed, maintained, and/or stored by aremote trusted third party (e.g., a third party associated with anactivity recognition system). In certain embodiments, device data may beshared and/or aggregated between systems and devices to build a profilerelating to a user of the mobile device 102.

The mobile device 102 may include one or more processors 202. Processor202 may comprise, for example, a microprocessor, a microcontroller,logic circuitry, an applications processor, a baseband processor, an x86processor, an RISC processor, an ASIC processor, a CSIC processor, anARM processor, and/or any other suitable type of processor utilizing anysuitable processor architecture or technology. Processor 202 may beconfigured to execute instructions stored by memory 212 to performcertain methods disclosed herein. In some embodiments, mobile device 102may further comprise an SPU (not shown) configured to perform sensitiveoperations such as trusted credential and/or key management, securepolicy management, and/or other secure processes and/or methods.

A transceiver 204 of the mobile device 102 may be configured to transmitand/or receive data via a network from one or more communicativelycoupled devices, systems, and/or service providers utilizing anysuitable communication protocol or protocols. For example, thetransceiver 204 may enable the mobile device 102 to transmit collecteddevice data to an activity recognition system and/or a databaseimplementing a third party service. Similarly, the transceiver 204 mayallow the mobile device 102 to receive various data, information, and/orapplications for processing by processor 202 and/or storage by memory212. The device 102 may further comprise software configured to enableelectronic communication of information to/from the device 102 via thetransceiver 204 using any suitable communication technology and/orstandard. In some embodiments, a separate receiver and transmitter maybe used instead of an integrated transceiver.

The mobile device 102 may include one or more components that mayfacilitate user interaction with the device 102. For example, the mobiledevice 102 may comprise a display screen 208 and/or an input device 210.The display screen 208 may be configured to display a graphical userinterface to a user of the mobile device 102 facilitating interactionwith the device 102. The display screen 208 may utilize any suitablescreen or display technology including, without limitation, cathode raytube (“CRT”) technology, liquid crystal display (“LCD”) technology,light emitting diode (“LED”) based technology, organic LED technology,electrophoretic display technology, and/or the like. In someembodiments, the display screen 208 may comprise a touch screenconfigured to receive input from a user of the mobile device 102.

The input device 210 may comprise any suitable device allowing a user tointeract with the mobile device 102 and/or input information into thedevice 102. In certain embodiments, the input device 210 may comprise,without limitation, a touch component of a touch screen display, akeyboard, a stylus, a pointing device (e.g., a trackpad, a mouse, etc.),a combination of some or all of the foregoing, and/or any other suitableinput device.

Memory 212 may be configured to store data, instructions and/or modulesfor use and/or execution by the processor 202. In certain embodiments,the memory 212 may comprise a non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium. The memory 212 may implement any suitable memory technology ortechnologies including, without limitation, random access memory(“RAM”), read only memory (“ROM”), hard disk drives (“HDD”), securedigital (“SD”) card, floppy disks, magnetic tapes, optical disc drives,flash memory, and/or the like. In some embodiments, the memory 212 mayinclude a program module partition 214 and a program data partition 216.

The program module partition 214 may include a set of instructions thatcan be executed by the processor 202 to perform specific actions on thedevice 102. As described in more detail below, the program modulepartition 214 may include, among other things, a sensor manager 218, acommunication manager 220, a personal agent 222, a locationadministrator 224, other device applications 226, and a deviceapplication manager 228. The program data partition 216 may include,without limitation, sensor data 230, local administrator data 232,application data 234, and/or other data 236. Certain information storedin the program data partition 216 including, for example, sensor data230, application data 234, and/or other data 236 may be referred toherein as device data.

The sensor manager 218 may be configured to manage the operation of oneor more sensors in the sensor group 206. In some embodiments, the sensormanager 218 may manage a polling rate associated with one or moresensors in the sensor group 206 (e.g., a rate at which the one or moresensors 206 measure data associated with the mobile device 102) based onvarious factors including, for example, a battery level of the mobiledevice 102, a signal strength of the mobile device 102, and/or a stateof the mobile device 102. The sensor manager 218 may further storedevice data measured by the sensor group 206 as sensor data 230 in theprogram data partition 216 of memory 212. In certain embodiments, thesensor manager 218 may include drivers for one or more sensors in thesensor group 206.

The communication manager 220 may be configured to manage communicationto and/or from the mobile device 102 via the transceiver 204. Forexample, the communication manager 220 may manage communications betweenthe mobile device 102 and an activity recognition system, an externaldatabase, and/or any other system or systems in communication with themobile device 102 (e.g., systems associated with a third party serviceprovider or the like). In certain embodiments, the communication manager220 may be configured to manage a time interval at which device dataincluding, for example, sensor data 230, is transmitted from the mobiledevice 102 to one or more external systems (e.g., a web analyticservice, an external database, and/or the like). For example, thecommunication manager 220 may be configured to shorten and/or lengthen aperiodic interval at which device data is transferred from the mobiledevice 102 based on a rate at which device data is collected by thedevice 102.

Personal information may be collected, stored, maintained, and/ormanaged by a personal agent 222, such as that described in the '406application and/or '538 application, operating locally on a user'sdevice 102. In further embodiments, the personal agent 222 may operateon a trusted remote system such as an activity recognition system and/oranother trusted service provider system. The personal agent 222 may beimplemented as an agent that runs locally on the device 102 (e.g., as abackground service) configured to monitor events and collect informationand/or device data from a variety of sources including, for example,direct user input, user actions, device contents, device sensors 206,web browsing and/or searches, and/or the like. For example, in someembodiments, the personal agent 222 may be configured to collect devicedata associated with the device 102 and/or a user thereof by collectingdata associated with a user's interaction with one or more applications226 executing on the device (e.g., social networking applications, webbrowsing applications, etc.). In further embodiments, the personal agent222 may be implemented as a network service that interacts with services(e.g., social networks and/or the like) and collects information relatedto a user profile, friends, groups, recommendations, and/or the like.

In some embodiments, a user of the mobile device 102 may define one ormore policies or other rules that govern how device data can becollected and/or utilized (e.g., utilized by a third party or the like).Such policies or rules can be articulated and implemented using anysuitable mechanism including, for example, using the digital rightsmanagement techniques described in the '387 patent and/or the '693application. In certain embodiments, rights, rules, and/or policiesassociated with device data may be managed and/or enforced using thepersonal agent 222 and/or a local administrator 224 executing on thedevice 102. For example, in some embodiments, a user may classifycertain sensor data 230 and/or other device data 236 under one or morecategories (e.g., confidential, public, etc.). Based on the categories,the user of the mobile device 102 may define sharing policies thatcontrol sharing of the sensor data 230 and/or other device data 236 bythe device 102. The user of the mobile device 102 may further defineusage policies configured to manage usage of device data shared by thedevice enforceable on one or more external systems (e.g., an activityrecognition system and/or an external database system). In certainembodiments, rights, rules, and/or policies associated with the devicedata may be stored by the device 102 as local administrative data 232.

The program modules 214 may further include one or more other deviceapplications 226 that may operate on the mobile device 102. Exemplarydevice applications 226 include, without limitation, web browsingapplications, communication applications (e.g., e-mail or textapplications), gaming applications, music and/or other multi-mediaapplications, social networking applications, and/or the like. Asdiscussed above, device data may be collected based on a user'sinteractions with the device 102. For example, metadata associated witha web browsing application may be collected as device data. Such devicedata may be stored as application data 234.

A variety of other device data 236 may be stored in the program data 216for use in connection with the systems and methods disclosed herein. Forexample, information relating to user contacts, communication messages,and/or other information stored by a user of the mobile device 102 inmemory 212 may be stored as other device data 236 for use in connectionwith location and/or activity recognition and/or prediction methodsconsistent with embodiments disclosed herein.

The device application manager 228 may be configured to manage theexecution of the personal agent 222 and/or other device applications 226and/or modules of the mobile device 102. In certain embodiments, thedevice application manager 228 may provide instructions to one or moreprogram modules to execute commands and/or coordinate interactions withthe user (e.g., via user input 210 and/or display 208). In someembodiments, the device application manager 228 may allocate certaindevice resources to executing program modules. For example, the deviceapplication manager 228 may allocate memory space, processing power,display availability, and/or any other device resource to one or moreprogram modules executing on the mobile device 102 (e.g., personal agent222, device applications 226, etc.).

It will be appreciated that a mobile device 102 consistent withembodiments disclosed herein may exclude some of the illustratedelements and/or include a variety of additional elements and/orfacilitate other functions. Certain elements and/or modules of theillustrated mobile device 102 may also be combined into one or moreelements and/or modules capable of performing the functions of theconstituent blocks. Thus it will be appreciated that the architecture ofthe mobile device 102 illustrated in FIG. 2 is provided for purposes ofillustration and explanation, and not limitation.

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of an activity recognition system 106consistent with embodiments of the present disclosure. The activityrecognition system 106 may be embodied by a variety of computing devicesand systems, including any mobile system and/or device suitable toimplement the systems and methods disclosed herein. Aspects of theactivity recognition system 106 illustrated in and described below inconnection with FIG. 3 may be implemented in a variety of ways,including using software, firmware, hardware, and/or any combinationthereof.

The activity recognition system 106 may include, without limitation, oneor more processors 302, transceivers 304, and/or memory devices 306. Theprocessor 302 may comprise any suitable processing device implementingany suitable processing architectures or technologies, including anyprocessing architecture or technology described herein. The processor302 may be configured to execute instructions stored by the memory 306to perform certain methods disclosed herein. In some embodiments, thesystem 106 may further include a SPU (not shown) configured to performsensitive operations such as trusted credential and/or key management,secure policy management, and/or other secure processes and/or methods.

The transceiver 304 of the activity recognition system 106 may beconfigured to receive data via a network from one or morecommunicatively coupled devices, systems, and/or service providersutilizing any suitable communication protocol or protocols. For example,the transceiver 304 may enable the activity recognition system 106 totransmit and/or receive data (e.g., device data) from a communicativelycoupled mobile device, a database, and/or a service providerimplementing a third party service. Similarly, the transceiver 304 mayallow the activity recognition system 106 to receive various data,information, and/or applications for processing by processor 302 and/orstorage by memory 306. The activity recognition system 106 may furthercomprise software configured to enable electronic communication ofinformation to/from the device 102 via the transceiver 304 using anysuitable communication technology and/or standard. In some embodiments,a separate receiver and transmitter may be used instead of an integratedtransceiver.

Memory 306 may be configured to store data, instructions and/or modulesfor use and/or execution by the processor 302. In certain embodiments,the memory 306 may comprise a non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium implemented using any suitable technology or technologies,including any storage technology described herein. As illustrated, insome embodiments, the memory 306 may include a program module partition308 and a program data partition 310.

The program module partition 308 may include a set of instructions thatcan be executed by the processor 302 to perform specific actions on theactivity recognition system 106. As described in more detail below, theprogram module partition 308 may include, among other things, a dataanalyzer 312, a profile manager 314, a personalized service engine 316,an application manager 318, a remote administrator 320, and/or one ormore applications 322. The program data partition 310 may include,without limitation, sensor data 324, service data 326, activity data328, user profile data 330, and/or remote administration data 332.Certain information stored in the program data partition 310 may bereferred to herein as device data including, without limitation, sensordata 324, service data 326, activity data 328, and/or user profile data330. In certain embodiments, data stored in the program data partition310 may be utilized in connection with recognizing and/or predictingactivities associated with a mobile device and/or a user thereof.

The sensor data 324 may comprise information collected by one or moresensors of a mobile device associated with a user and may, for example,include any of the types of sensor data described above. Service data326 may comprise information generated from a user's interaction withone or more services. Activity data 328 may comprise informationgenerated from a user's activities in connection with a mobile device(e.g., a user's activities using one or more applications executing onthe device). User profile data 330 may comprise personal informationand/or other usage data managed as part of a profile associated with auser. A variety of other types of device data may be stored in theprogram data partition 310 and be used in connection with the activityrecognition and/or prediction systems and methods disclosed herein.

The data analyzer 312 may be configured to analyze device data (e.g.,sensor data 324, service data 326, activity data 328, and/or userprofile data 330) received by the activity recognition system 106 to,among other things, recognize and/or predict activity associated with amobile device and/or a user thereof associated with the device data. Inthis context, the data analyzer 312 may utilize a variety of techniquesincluding, without limitation, data mining techniques, statisticalanalysis techniques, predictive analysis techniques, data modelingtechniques, machine-learning algorithms, and/or the like.

In certain embodiments, the data analyzer 312 may determine a first setof activities based on available device data and/or a subset thereof.The first set of activities may include a single activity and/or aplurality of activities, and may reflect one or more likely activitiesof a user of a mobile device as indicated by the available device data.The first set of activities may be determined in a variety of ways. Incertain embodiments, the first set of activities may be determineddirectly from available device data. For example, device data comprisinga user input or indication regarding a current activity may be utilizedto directly determine an associated first set of activities.

In further embodiments, the first set of activities may be determinedindirectly and/or inferred from available device data. In someembodiments, location and/or orientation-based device data may providecontextual information that may be used to determine and/or infer alikely set of activities reflected in the first set of activities. Forexample, based on device data that includes location informationindicating that a user is in a movie theater and orientation informationindicating that the device is located in the user's pocket, it may beinferred from such device data that the user is watching a movie.Accordingly, a first set of identified activities may include anactivity associated with the user watching a movie.

Similarly, the first set of activities may be determined based oninferences drawn from device data associating a user's interactions withand/or activities using a mobile device. For example, a user mayindicate via an application of the device (e.g., a social networkingapplication) an indication of their location and/or an activity beingperformed using the device (e.g., “at the office”, “going to the movie”,“playing a game”, etc.), and a user activity may be inferred based onsuch an indication. Similarly, a user may indicate in a calendar orscheduling application on the mobile device that they will be travellingon an airplane and/or on a certain flight for a certain period of time.Based on such information, a plane traveling activity or the like may beincluded in the first set of determined activities. It will beappreciated that a wide variety of inferences may be drawn based on awide variety of device data, and that any suitable method, algorithm,and/or architecture for drawing such inferences to determine useractivities and/or micro-activities may be utilized in connection withthe embodiments disclosed herein.

In certain embodiments, the first set of activities may be determinedbased on one or more micro-activities. The one or more micro-activitiesmay represent likely activities of a user determined based on availabledevice data. In some embodiments, the one or more micro-activities maycomprise activities of relatively small duration. The one or moremicro-activities may be determined using methods similar to the methodsused to identify the first set of activities detailed above. In someembodiments, the first set of activities may be determined from one ormore identified micro-activities. For example, the first set ofactivities may be determined based on a combination of two or moremicro-activities being identified. In further embodiments, the first setof activities may be determined based on a sequence of micro-activitiesoccurring.

The data analyzer 312 may be configured to determine a second set ofactivities based, at least in part, on the first set of user activities.The second set of user activities may comprise a single activity and/ora plurality of activities, and may reflect one or more likely and/orpredicted future activities of a user of a mobile device as indicated bythe available device data and/or based on the first set of useractivities. In some embodiments, such activities may include visiting aparticular location. The second set of activities may be determined in avariety of ways, including using any of the methods described above inconnection with determining the first set of activities (e.g., directlyfrom available device data and/or the first set of activities and/orbased on one or more inferences derived from available device dataand/or the first set of activities).

In certain embodiments, the second set of activities may be determinedby the data analyzer 312 by identifying a probability of one or moresubsequent activities occurring following the identified first set ofactivities. The probability of one or more subsequent activities may bedetermined based on available device data, the identified first set ofactivities, and/or any information that may be utilized in predicting afuture set of activities following the first set of activities. Forexample, if device data comprising historical data regarding devicelocation information indicates that 90% of the time after a user isengaged in an activity of the first set of activities the user travelsto a particular location, travelling to the particular location may bedetermined as a likely future activity of the user and be included inthe second set of activities. In another example, if the first set ofactivates includes an activity associated with a first location anddevice data indicates the mobile device is traveling in a particulardirection from the first location, the determined second set ofactivities may include an activity associated with a likely secondlocation determined based, at least in part, on the direction of travel.

In some embodiments, probabilities of one or more subsequent activitiesoccurring following the first set of activities may be based, at leastin part, on data relating one or more other users. In certainembodiments, the one or more other users may be users having similarinterests and/or user profiles to the user of a mobile device. Forexample, if historical spatial (i.e., location) and/or temporalinformation relating to other similar users indicates that 85% presentof the time after a user is engaged in an activity of a first set ofactivities the user travels to a particular location, travelling to theparticular location may be determined as likely future activity of theuser and be included in the second set of activities. By utilizinginformation associated with other similar users, determination of thesecond set of activities may be improved, especially if relativelylimited information and/or device data is available relating to a userof a mobile device.

As discussed above, in some embodiments, the second set of activitiesmay be associated with one or more locations. In further embodiments,the second set of activities may be associated with one or more entitiesand/or user activities. Similarly, the first set of activities may beassociated with one or more locations, entities, and/or activities. Forexample, based on available location-based sensor data 324, it may bedetermined that a user of a mobile device is located at or near aparticular location. Accordingly, at least one activity of the first setof activities may be associated with the location.

Locations associated with activities of the first and/or second set ofactivities may be identified using any suitable technique including,without limitation, techniques using GPS information, geographicalmapping information, and point-of-interest mapping information (e.g.,data regarding a type of business or other place associated with ageographical location or locations). For example, GPS sensor informationincluded in sensor data 324 may indicate a geographical location of amobile device, and point-of-interest information may be used to identifyone or more point-of-interests (e.g., restaurants, stores, theaters,offices, homes, markets, airports, railway stations, bus stops, parks,etc.) associated with the geographical location. In certaincircumstances, geographical information may be associated with aplurality of points-of-interest, and a particular location and/orpoint-of-interest may be identified based on other available device dataproviding contextual information relating to a likely location and/orpoint-of-interest being visited by the user. For example, geographicalinformation may indicate that a mobile device is located proximate to aMediterranean restaurant and a bookstore, but may not have sufficientresolution to identify with specificity whether the user is located atthe restaurant or the bookstore. If user interest information includedin available device data indicates the user likes Mediterranean food,the restaurant may be identified as a likely location of the user and/ormobile device.

A profile manager 314 may be configured to generate and/or manage a userprofile 330 comprising device data and/or other personal informationassociated with particular user. In certain embodiments, the userprofile 330 may comprise device data aggregated and/or shared betweensystems, devices, and/or services associated with the user. In certainembodiments, the profile manager 314 may implement a personal agent,such as that described in the b application or '538 application, inconnection with managing the user profile 330.

The personalized service engine 316 may be configured to provide one ormore personalized services to a mobile device and/or a user thereofbased, at least in part, on available device data and/or one or moreidentified first and/or second sets of activities. The personalizedservices facilitated by the personalized service engine 316 may include,without limitation, targeted advertising services, offer and/or dealservices, health care services, and/or recommendation services (e.g.,service recommendations, content recommendations, productrecommendations, etc.). For example, a personalized service may transmitan advertisement to a user's mobile device based on a determination thatthe user is likely travelling to a particular location identified in thesecond set of activities. By transmitting an advertisement to the user'smobile device at a time the user is likely traveling to a particularpoint-of-interest associated with the advertisement, the likelihood ofthe user experiencing a positive advertisement impression may beincreased. In certain embodiments, information generated in connectionwith providing personalized services may be stored as service data 326.

The program modules 308 may further include one or more applications 322that may operate on the activity recognition system 106 and/or implementservices provided by the system 106. Exemplary applications 322 include,without limitation, personalized service applications, registeringapplications, report generating applications, communicationapplications, operating systems, quantitative and/or qualitativeanalytics tools, user analytics applications, and/or any other suitableapplication or applications.

In some embodiments, a remote administrator 320 may be utilized toenable a user to manage usage rights articulated in remoteadministration data 332 associated with collected device data. Incertain embodiments, such usage rights may define one or more policiesor other rules that govern how device data can be collected and/orutilized (e.g., utilized by a third party or the like). Such policies orrules can be articulated and implemented using any suitable mechanismincluding, for example, using the digital rights management techniquesdescribed in the '387 patent and/or the '693 application. In certainembodiments, rights, rules, and/or policies associated with device datamay be managed and/or enforced using a personal agent and/or the remoteadministrator 320. In certain embodiments, the remote administrator 320may operate in conjunction with a local administrator operating on amobile device in connection with usage rights and/or policy managementand/or enforcement.

The application manager 318 may be configured to manage the execution ofapplications on the activity recognition system 106. In certainembodiments, the application manager 318 may provide instructions to oneor more program modules to execute commands and/or coordinateinteractions with the user. In some embodiments, the application manager318 may allocate certain device resources to executing program modules.For example, the application manager 318 may allocate memory space,processing power, display availability, and/or any other device resourceto one or more program modules executing on the activity recognitionsystem 106.

It will be appreciated that an activity recognition system 106consistent with embodiments disclosed herein may exclude some of theillustrated elements and/or include a variety of additional elementsand/or facilitate other functions. Certain elements and/or modules ofthe illustrated activity recognition system 106 may also be combinedinto one or more elements and/or modules capable of performing thefunctions of the constituent blocks. Thus it will be appreciated thatthe architecture of the activity recognition system 106 illustrated inFIG. 3 is provided for purposes of illustration and explanation, and notlimitation.

FIG. 4 illustrates a flow chart of an exemplary method 400 forrecognizing user activities consistent with embodiments of the presentdisclosure. In certain embodiments, the illustrated method 400 and/orits constituent steps may be performed by a mobile device associatedwith a user, an activity recognition system, and/or any other suitablesystem or combination of systems.

At 402, device data may be received. The device data may comprise avariety of data regarding a user of a mobile device, and may include anyof the types of device data disclosed herein (e.g., sensor data, usagedata, profile data, user-provided data, personal information, etc.). Incertain embodiments, the device data may be received from a mobiledevice and/or one or more sensors and/or systems included therein,received from an external database, received from one or more servicesthat a user of the mobile device interacts with (e.g., a trusted thirdparty or the like), and/or received from any other suitable source. Insome embodiments, the device data may be associated with a profileassociated with a user of the mobile device.

The device data may be received from a mobile device that is registeredwith a system implementing certain aspects of method 400 (e.g., anactivity recognition system or the like). In certain embodiments, aregistration process may be performed to initially associate the mobiledevice with an activity recognition system implementing activityrecognition and/or prediction services and related personalized servicesdisclosed herein (e.g., targeted advertising services or the like). Aspart of the registration process, an activity recognition system maytransmit (or provide an option to download) a software module configuredto manage and collect device data for use in connection with activityrecognition and/or prediction services. For example, in certainembodiments, the activity recognition system may transmit a softwaremodule implementing a personal agent for execution by a mobile device inconnection with a registration process. The personal agent may managethe collection and distribution of device data by the mobile device inconnection with the services of the activity recognition system.

At 404, a first set of user activities may be determined based onavailable device data transmitted or detected at 402, or a subsetthereof. The first set of activities may include a single activityand/or a plurality of activities, and may reflect one or more likelyactivities a user of a mobile device is likely engaged in as indicatedby the available device data. In certain embodiments, the first set ofactivities may be determined directly from available device data or maybe determined indirectly and/or inferred from available device data(e.g., by utilizing contextual information that may be utilized todetermine and/or infer a likely set of activities that a user is engagedin).

In certain embodiments, the first set of activities may be determinedbased on one or more micro-activities. The one or more micro-activitiesmay represent likely activities of a user determined based on availabledevice data. In some embodiments, the one or more micro-activities maycomprise activities of relatively small duration. The one or moremicro-activities may be determined using methods similar to the methodsused to determine one or more first set of activities detailed above. Insome embodiments, the first set of activities may be determined from oneor more identified micro-activities. For example, the first set ofactivities may be determined based on a combination of two or moremicro-activities being identified. In further embodiments, the first setof activities may be determined based on a sequence of micro-activitiesoccurring.

As an example, if device data relating to a relative speed of travel ofa mobile device indicates the device is travelling at 65 miles-per-hour(i.e., a first micro-activity) and additional device data indicates thedevice is located on or near a freeway (i.e., a second micro-activity),the first set of activities may include an activity corresponding totravelling in a vehicle along the freeway. In another example, if devicedata relating to ambient light conditions of a mobile device indicatesthe device is in a dark space and additional device data indicates thedevice is located in a theater, the first set of activities may includewatching a movie with the mobile device in a darkened area (e.g., in auser's pocket or the like). In yet another example, if device dataindicates the device is travelling at a speed greater than 10 mph anddevice data relating to ambient environmental sounds proximate to thedevice records the sound of a train whistle, the first set of activitiesmay include riding on a train or traveling near a train station. It willbe appreciated that a wide variety of inferences may be drawn based on awide variety of device data to determine user activities, and that anysuitable method, algorithm, and/or architecture for drawing suchinferences to determine user activities and/or micro-activities may beutilized in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein.

The first set of user activities may be updated as new device databecomes available. In some embodiments, such updating may occur atperiodic intervals (e.g., every 5 minutes or the like). In furtherembodiments, such updating may occur whenever new device data isreceived that may change the one or more activities identified in thefirst set of user activities (i.e., change the determination made at404). For example, if updated device data indicates that a locationassociated with a mobile device has changed to a different location, thefirst set of activities may be updated to include activities associatedwith the different location and/or the direction of travel of the mobiledevice.

At 406, a second set of activities may be determined based, at least inpart, on the first set of activities identified at 404 and/or otheravailable device data. The second set of activities may include one ormore likely and/or predicted future activities of a user of the mobiledevice such as, for example, visiting a particular location. Like thefirst set of activities, the second set of activities may comprise asingle activity or a plurality of activities. The second set ofactivities may be determined in a variety of ways, including using anyof the methods described above in connection with determining the firstset of activities (e.g., directly from available device data and/or thefirst set of activities and/or based on one or more inferences derivedfrom available device data and/or the first set of activities).

As an example, if an identified first activity comprises travellingalong a freeway in a vehicle in a particular direction (e.g., based ondevice data indicating the mobile device is traveling at a particularspeed along a particular geographical path), one or more activities ofthe second set of activities may be associated with a likely destinationof the user in the direction of travel. For example, based on userinterest information included in available device data, it may beinferred that the user has an interest in portrait art. Using availablegeographic and/or point-of-interest mapping information, it may bedetermined that a portrait art gallery is located in the direction oftravel of the user associated with the identified first activity.Accordingly, visiting the portrait art gallery may be included in theset of second activities determined at 406, as the portrait art gallerymay be a likely destination of the user.

In some embodiments, historical patterns and/or trends may be identifiedfrom collected device data and may be used in connection withdetermining the first and/or second sets of activities. For example, ifhistorical device data indicates that a user spends a significant amountof time on a regular basis at a particular location during the evening,the location may be inferred to be a location of the user's residence.Similarly, if a user listens to a particular song frequently with anassociated mobile device, a user's interest in the artist, musicalgenre, and/or particular song may be inferred. In certain embodiments,identifying historical patterns and/or trends in collected device datafor use in connection with the systems and methods disclosed herein mayallow for improved activity recognition and/or prediction.

Certain embodiments disclosed herein may facilitate provision of one ormore personalized services to a mobile device and/or a user thereofbased, at least in part, on available device data and/or one or moreidentified first or second sets of activities. For example, targetedadvertising and/or offer-based services may be provided to a user of amobile device. As discussed above, the first set of activities may beassociated with activities a user is currently engaged in and the secondset of activities may be associated with one or more likely futureactivities. Based on such information, targeted services may bedelivered to a user based on the user's current and/or future activity.By delivering targeted services at a time the user is more likely toutilize or benefit from the services, such services may provide enhancedvalue to the user. For example, advertisements and/or offers may bedelivered to a user at a time that is more likely to generate a positiveadvertisement impression in the user and/or a time when the user is morelikely to use an offer delivered to the user's mobile device, therebyimproving the value of such services.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flow chart of an exemplary method 500 ofdetermining a place associated with a user consistent with embodimentsof the present disclosure. In certain embodiments, the illustratedmethod 500 and/or its constituent steps may be performed by a mobiledevice associated with a user, an activity recognition system, and/orany other suitable system or combination of systems. In certainembodiments, the method 500 may be utilized to determine a specificplace, location, and/or point-of-interest associated with a user whenavailable location-based device data may be associated with a pluralityof places, locations, and/or points-of-interest due to a relativelylower resolution of the available location-based device data.

At 502, one or more first candidate places (e.g., points-of-interest orthe like) may be identified based on available locational-based devicedata. For example, available location-based device data may comprise GPSlocation data having an associated accuracy resolution. A place databaseservice or similar service associating places with locations (e.g.,mapping or navigation services providers) may be used in conjunctionwith the GPS location data to identify one or more places associatedwith the GPS location data. If the GPS location data has relatively highresolution or accuracy, a single candidate place may be identified asbeing associated with the GPS location data. In certain circumstances,however, the GPS location data may have relatively low resolution oraccuracy and/or places may be located relatively densely within aparticular area associated with the GPS location data. Accordingly, aplurality of places may be identified as being associated with the GPSlocation data.

At 504, a determination may be made whether the candidate placesidentified at 502 comprise more than one candidate place. If only onecandidate place is identified, the method may proceed to 506 where thecandidate place may be identified as a current and/or actual place of auser. Based on the current and/or actual place of the user, one or morepersonalized services may be provided to the user at 514 as discussed inmore detail below.

If more than one candidate place is identified (e.g., based on aresolution accuracy of a location-based sensor being relatively lowand/or places being relatively densely located), the method 500 mayproceed to 508. At 508, a determination may be made whether the user haspreviously visited one or more of the first candidate places. Priorvisits to the one or more first candidate places may be indicative ofsubsequent and/or future visits to the one or more first candidateplaces. In certain embodiments, historical location-based device dataand/or other available device data may be utilized to determine whetherthe user has previously visited one or more of the first candidateplaces. For example, device data associated with a user's schedule(e.g., device data utilized in connection with a calendaring applicationor the like) may show one or more past visits to one or more of thefirst candidate places.

If the user has previously visited one or more of the first candidateplaces, a likely current place the user is visiting may be identifiedfrom the one or more first candidate places based on available devicedata at 510. For example, if the user has visited only one of the firstcandidate places previously, the place may be determined to be thelikely place the user is currently visiting. If the user has visited aplurality of the first candidate places previously, additional devicedata may be utilized to determine the likely place the user is currentlyvisiting. For example, if historical device data indicates that a userhas visited a restaurant included in the first candidate placesregularly in the past and has visited a dance club included in the firstcandidate places only once, it may be determined that the user is morelikely to currently be at the restaurant (e.g., based on a probabilisticdetermination that the user is more likely to be at the restaurant thanthe dance club). Similarly, if device data relating to ambientconditions proximate to a mobile device associated with the user aremore closely associated with a restaurant than a dance club (e.g.,relatively quiet, less-movement, and/or the like), it may be determinedthat the user is more likely to currently be at the restaurant. Based onthe likely current location of the user determined at 510, one or morepersonalized services may be provided to the user at 514.

If the user has not previously visited the one or more first candidateplaces, a likely current place the user is visiting may be identifiedfrom the one or more first candidate places based on available devicedata at 512 using one or more suitable machine-learning algorithms. Incertain embodiments, the one or more machine-learning algorithms mayemploy a probabilistic method to determine a likely current place theuser is visiting of the first candidate places based on available devicedata. For example, if available device data includes informationreflecting a user's interest in music and at least one place of thefirst candidate places includes a music store, the machine-learningalgorithm may determine the music store has the highest probability ofbeing the likely current location of the user (i.e., by being a locationmost closely related to user interests reflected in the device data).

At 514, one or more personalized services may be provided to a userbased on the identified place the user is likely currently located. Forexample, targeted advertising and/or offer-based services relating tothe identified likely place the user is located may be provided to theuser. Delivering such targeted services while the user is at aparticular place may increase the value of such services to the userand/or service providers.

Although described in connection with determining a likely currentlocation of a user, similar methods may be utilized in connection withdetermining and/or predicting a likely future location of the user. Forexample, probabilistic determinations and/or machine-learning algorithmsutilizing available device data relating to a user may be utilized inconnection with predicting a likely future location of the user at aparticular time. By anticipating user behavior using such methods,personalized services may be delivered to the user more effectively.

FIG. 6 illustrates a flow chart of another exemplary method 600 ofdetermining a place associated with a user consistent with embodimentsof the present disclosure. In certain embodiments, the illustratedmethod 600 and/or its constituent steps may be performed by a mobiledevice associated with a user, an activity recognition system, and/orany other suitable system or combination of systems. In someembodiments, the method 600 may be utilized to determine a specificplace, location, and/or point-of-interest associated with a user based,at least in part, on information collected from one or more other users.By utilizing information associated with other similar users,determination of a specific place of a user (e.g., location orpoint-of-interest) may be improved, especially if relatively limitedinformation and/or device data is available relating to the user.

At 602, one or more other users similar to a user of a mobile device maybe identified. The one or more other similar users may be identified ina variety of ways. For example, the one or more other users may beidentified as having similar interests and/or user profile informationbased on available device data. In some embodiments, the one or moreother similar users may be identified based on having previously visitedsimilar places to the user, having similar spatial and/or temporalhistorical travel patterns, having similar content viewing and/orbrowsing histories, and/or the like. In further embodiments, similarusers may be identified through contacts and/or other social connectionsof a user (e.g., social connections derived from device data associatedwith social networking services the user interacts with or the like). Incertain embodiments, the one or more other similar users may beidentified based on Jaccard similarly coefficients.

At 604, a determination may be made whether the one or more other usersidentified at 602 have visited one or more first candidate places. Theone or more first candidate places (e.g., points-of-interest or thelike) may be identified based on available location-based device dataassociated with a user of the mobile device. In certain embodiments, thedetermination at 604 may utilize available historical device data (e.g.,location-based device data) associated with the one or more other usersto determine whether the users have visited any of the one or more firstcandidate places.

If the one or more other users identified at 602 have not visited theone or more first candidate places, the method 600 may end. In suchcircumstances, other device data associated with a user may be utilizedto identify a likely place from one or more candidate places using, forexample, probabilistic determinations, contextual information inferencetechniques, machine-learning algorithms, and/or the like. In certainembodiments, device data associated with the other similar usersidentified at 602 (e.g., interest information and/or the like) may alsobe utilized in connection with identifying a likely place from one ormore candidate places.

If the one or more other users identified at 602 have visited the one ormore first candidate places, the method may proceed to 606. At 606,counts may be obtained for each of the first candidate places based on anumber of times the one or more other similar users identified at 602have visited the first candidate places. For example, if the firstcandidate places include a first place and a second place, and the oneor more other users have visited the first place ten times and thesecond place two times, the first place may be associated with a countof ten and the second place with a count of two. Using such countinformation, probabilistic determinations of a likely place of a userfrom the first candidate place may be performed at 608. In the aboveexample, the determination may result in the first place beingidentified as the likely location of the user given it is morefrequented by other similar users. In some embodiments, a variety ofother device data related to the user and/or other similar users may beutilized in connection with the determination at 608. Based on thelikely current location of the user determined at 608, one or morepersonalized services may be provided to the user relating to the likelycurrent location.

It will be appreciated that similar methods to the illustrated method600 may be utilized in connection with determining and/or predicting alikely future location of the user. For example, probabilisticdeterminations and/or machine-learning algorithms utilizing informationassociated with other similar users may be utilized in connection withpredicting a likely future location of the user at a particular time.Moreover, in certain embodiments, a plurality of machine-learningtechniques and/or probabilistic determinations may be utilized todetermine a likely current and/or future of a user. In some embodiments,weights may be assigned to each technique and/or determination used, anda determination of a likely current and/or future location of the usermay be based, at least in part, on such weights (e.g., based on aweighted average of relative weights of the utilized techniques and/ordeterminations).

FIG. 7 illustrates a conceptual diagram 700 of a hidden Markov modelutilized in connection with predicting a future location of a userconsistent with embodiments of the present disclosure. In certainembodiments, predicting a likely future location of a user may be based,at least in part, on a current location of the user. That is, a user'scurrent location may play a potentially decisive role in predictingtheir next location. Users may also have particular movement patterns atparticular times throughout the day. Such user behaviors may be utilizedin connection with the systems and methods disclosed herein to predict alikely future location of the user.

A statistical Markov model may be utilized in connection withdetermining and/or predicting a likely future location of a user. Forexample, a hidden Markov model such as the illustrated model may beutilized. In some embodiments, places may be modeled as latent variableshaving associated observed variables. Observed variables may include,for example, candidate places, geographical location information, and/orarrival/leave times at the one or more places. In some embodiments, adata structure based on a Markov process may be provided including atransitional matrix reflecting one or more places and user behaviorpatterns (e.g., arrival/leave times from the one or more places). Rowsof the matrix may indicate a probability distribution of transitionsfrom a particular place to others.

As discussed above, in some embodiments, places may be modeled as latentvariables in the hidden Markov model. For a particular place, arrivaland leave times (e.g., average historical arrival and leave times) by auser at the place may be observed and utilized as observed variables inthe hidden Markov model. In some embodiments, to predict a next placethe user will visit, the following equation may be utilized:Pr(l _(t) |l _(t-1) ,arr _(t-1),leave_(t-1))=Pr(l _(t) |l _(t-1))×Pr(arr_(t-1) |l _(t-1))×Pr(leave_(t-1) |l _(t-1))  Equation 1That is, the probability of a next location or place (l_(t)) being anext destination of the user may depend on probabilities associated withthe prior location or place (l_(t-1)), observed arrival times associatedwith the prior location or place (arr_(t-1)), and observeddeparture/leave times associated with the prior location or place(leave_(t-1)).

In certain embodiments, once a particular place is predicted as a nextlikely destination of a user, it may also be valuable to predict anestimated arrival time at the next destination. With such information,for example, personalized services (e.g., targeted advertisements) maybe delivered to a user at both a time and/or location that the servicesare more likely to be valuable to the user. In certain embodiments, apredicted arrival time at a next destination may be determined byEquation 2 below:argmax_(arrt2) Pr(arr _(t2) |l _(t2))  Equation 2

If an observed departure/leave time at the prior location or place(l_(t-1)) is unavailable (e.g., due to location-based sensors not beingactive at a time of departure or the like), a joint conditionalprobability distribution of a next location or place and a leave time atthe prior location may be predicted according to Equation 3:Pr(l _(t),leave_(t-1) |l _(t-1) ,arr _(t-1))=Pr(l _(t) |l _(t-1) ,arr_(t-1))×Pr(leave_(t-1) |l _(t-1) ,arr _(t-1))  Equation 3That is, the joint conditional probability of the next location or placeand the leave time at the prior location may depend on probabilitiesassociated with the prior location or place (l_(t-1)) and observedarrival times associated with the prior location or place (arr_(t-1)).

In some circumstances, it may be determined that the conditionalindependence assumptions used in Equation 1 and Equation 3 are toostrong. Often, a leave time at a prior place may have a strongcorrelation with a next place. For example, if a leave time from a worklocation is approximately noon, the next place the user will visit islikely to be a lunch/restaurant location. Equation 3, however, may ranka user's home higher than the lunch/restaurant location as a likely nextplace. Accordingly, in some embodiments, the hidden Markov model may bemodified to factor in leave time and next place locations.

FIG. 8 illustrates a conceptual diagram 800 of a modified hidden Markovmodel utilized in connection with predicting a future location of a userconsistent with embodiments of the present disclosure. In the modifiedmodel, the conditional independent assumption may no longer beconsidered valid for leave/departure times at a prior place and a nextplace. Accordingly, as reflected below in Equation 4, the prediction ofa next place and a leave time from a prior place may be provided as afunction of the prior place and an arrival time at the prior place.Pr(l _(t),leave_(t-1) |l _(t-1) ,arr _(t-1))=ƒ(l _(t),leave_(t-1) :l_(t-1) ,arr _(t-1))  Equation 4

In some embodiments, to perform reasonable predictions of a next placeand a departure/leave time based on Equation 3, a current place may beassociated with a future place based on one or more time constructions.A place may be represented as a random variable in a 2D plane. The 2Dplane may be partitioned with relatively high granularity (e.g., a 100mbounding rectangle), which can be used to represent a domain of a placerandom variable (l). Time may be considered a continuous dimensionhaving increasing order. Accordingly, a set of temporal-related randomvariables may be constructed that are defined in domains where repeatvisits to a place are possible. For example, in some embodiments, twotime-domain definitions may be used: (i) an hour of a day: 24 values,each representing an hour; and/or (ii) a day of the week: 7 values, eachrepresenting a day. It will be appreciated that other time-domaindefinitions may also be used in connection with the disclosed systemsand methods (e.g., holidays, months, minutes, seconds, etc.).

Using the exemplary time-domain definitions provided above, two randomvariables may be defined: h for hours and d for days. Using thesevariables, Equation 4 may be rewritten as follows:

$\begin{matrix}{{\Pr( {l_{t}, {leave}_{t - 1} \middle| l_{t - 1} ,{arr}_{t - 1}} )} = \frac{f( {l_{t},d_{t},h_{t},l_{t - 1},d_{t - 1},h_{t - 1}} )}{f( {l_{t - 1},d_{t - 1},h_{t - 1}} )}} & {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 5}\end{matrix}$In some embodiments, Equation 5 may be utilized to evaluate adistribution of a next likely place. The function ƒ(l_(t), d_(t), h_(t),d_(t-1), h_(t-1)) may represent a historical count of arriving at aplace at t−1 and leaving for a next place at t, and may be used to modeltransitional behaviors between two places.

FIG. 9 shows exemplary algorithmic methods and associated inputs and/oroutputs for transitional behavior updating 900 and next place prediction902 consistent with embodiments disclosed herein. In certainembodiments, the algorithmic methods 900, 902 may be utilized inconnection with implementing certain features of location predictionmethods using the techniques described above. It will be appreciatedthat the illustrated algorithmic methods and associated inputs and/oroutputs 900, 902 are merely exemplary, and that other suitablealgorithms having a variety of other inputs and/or outputs may beutilized to implement the systems and methods disclosed herein.

FIG. 10 illustrates a conceptual diagram 1000 of geographical targetingmethods consistent with embodiments of the present disclosure. Incertain embodiments, geographical targeting methods may be utilized inconnection with provision of one or more personalized and/or targetedservices to a user of a mobile device (e.g., targeted advertisingservices or the like). For example, from an advertiser's perspective,advertisements delivered to a consumer should ideally be well-matched tothe interests of the consumer at a time and/or location that theconsumer is likely to purchase advertised goods and/or services.Identifying and/or predicting geographical activities of a user may thusallow for more effective targeting of advertisements to the user.

Certain embodiments disclosed herein may provide for precisegeographical targeting based on historical user travel patterns and/orpaths as well as a variety of other available data relating to the user(e.g., device data collected by a mobile device associated with theuser). In certain embodiments, geographical targeting methods disclosedherein may utilize a scoring model to estimate a relevancy of aparticular user to a targeting entity on a geographic basis (e.g., anadvertising store or the like). In some embodiments, the methods mayutilize a variety of location-based device data and/or other informationrelating to a user including, for example, historical visits to one ormore places and visit durations, times of visits to places, user modesof travel (e.g., walking, biking, driving, flying, etc.), user travelpaths, distances between targeting entities and locations visited by theuser and/or travel paths, various weighting factors related topreferences of a targeting entity, and/or any other suitable type ofdata.

As illustrated in the diagram 1000 of FIG. 10, a user may travel along apath (e.g., a predicted path) between points 1002 and 1004. Along thepath, one or more location clusters C1, C2 may exist associated with oneor more places that the user has visited and/or visits on a frequentbasis. The location clusters C1, C2 may be likely stops that the userwill make along the path. In the illustrated diagram, the relative sizesof points 1002, 1004, and clusters C1, C2 may be associated withhistorical visit frequency and duration of the locations.

A targeting entity S1 (e.g., an advertising store or the like) may havean interest in delivering one or more targeted services to the user at aparticular point along the path and/or time. For example, a targetingentity may wish to deliver a targeted advertisement to the user at atime they are likely to travel most closely to the targeting entity. Inthe diagram, D1 represents the distance between the targeting entity S1and location cluster C2 and D2 represents the shortest distance betweenthe targeting entity S1 and the predicted travel path of the user.

A score for an association between a particular user and targetingentity may be determined. In certain embodiments, this score may beassociated with a relative degree of association between targetingpreferences of the targeting entity and user interests included inand/or derived from available device data. Targeted preferences may beadjusted by targeting entities so as to target specific users and/orgroups of users. Generally speaking, the score may be an indication asto a relevancy between a user and a targeting entity. A targeting entitycomprising a store may utilize such scoring to select a list of usershaving interests associated with the store's target customer base (e.g.,based on selecting users having a threshold relevancy or the like). Inanother example, a targeting entity comprising a retail chain mayaggregate scores between multiple associated locations of the chain togenerate a final score for a user. In yet further embodiments, atargeting entity comprising a point-of-interest recommendation serviceprovider may calculate scores between a user and one or morepoints-of-interest in connection with its services.

In certain embodiments, a score describing a relevancy between a userand a targeting entity may have at least two associated components. Afirst score component may be based on a relative distance betweentargeting entities and location clusters. A second score component maybe based on the relative distance between targeting entities and travelpaths.

In certain embodiments, a first component for computing a score based ona relative distance between a targeting entity and a location clustermay be described according to the following:S ₁ =W ₁·Σ_(i) ln(d _(i))·F ₁(t _(i) ,S)·e ^(−D1/R(V,S)) ·e ^(−t) ^(i)^(/(S))  Equation 6In Equation 6, i may represent an ith visit to a location. d_(i) mayrepresent a duration of a stay for the ith visit to the location. Alogarithmic function may be utilized as, in certain circumstances, aduration of a stay at a location may be less important that thefrequency of visits to the location. F₁ may be a function that providesa weighting factor based on a time of a visit and a store type S of avisit. For example, a coffee shop may be equally weighted every day ofthe week whereas a grocery store may be weighted towards weekend visits.D₁ may be a distance between a targeting entity and a visited location.

R(V,S) may be a range factor that depends on a targeting entity and amode of travel (e.g., walking, biking, driving, flying, etc.). Forexample, a coffee shop may have a range factor corresponding to a rangeof 200 m, whereas a large shopping center may have a range factorcorresponding to a range of 0.5 miles. The range factor may also dependon the mode of travel. For example, walking may have a range factorcorresponding to a range of 100-200 m, whereas driving may have a rangefactor corresponding to a range of 1-2 km. In certain embodiments, amode of travel may be determined based on a distance between twoconsecutive location-based measurement data points and a time betweenmeasurement of the two data points.

A user's behavior patterns may change over time. Accordingly, a timedelay factor T(S) may be included in Equation 6 that allows more recentevents to have higher relevance than less recent events. In certainembodiments, the time delay factor may depend on the type of targetingentity. A weighting factor W₁ may be utilized to adjust relativeimportances among different scoring components.

In certain embodiments, a second score component for computing a scorebased on a relative distance between a targeting entity and a travelpath may be described according to the following:S ₂ =W ₂·Σ_(i) ln(d _(i))·F ₂(t _(i) ,S)·e ^(−D2/R(V,S)) ·e ^(−t) ^(i)^(/T(S))  Equation 7As can be seen, many of the variables included in Equation 7 may besimilar to the variables of Equation 6 detailed above. Similar to F₁, F₂may be a function that provides a weighting factor based on a time of atravel and a store type S. D₂ may be a distance between a targetingentity and a travel path. A weighting factor W₁ may be utilized toadjust relative importances among different scoring components.

In some embodiments, parameters of the scoring model may be adjustedbased on targeting entity preferences. In addition, various suitablemachine-learning algorithms may be utilized to adjust parameters basedon user feedback information (e.g., click through rates, advertisementconversion rates, etc.). The scoring model may also be simplified whendesired. For example, certain parameters (e.g., F₁), may be omitted ifdeemed less important for specific targeting activities.

A scoring methodology utilizing the components detailed above may beutilized to match users with targeting entities based on the user'slocation-based behaviors. Targeting entities may then deliverpersonalized services (e.g., targeted advertisements) to well-matchedusers at a time and/or location that the user is more likely to utilizesuch services.

FIG. 11 illustrates a block diagram of a location-based inferencearchitecture 1100 consistent with embodiments disclosed herein. Theactivity recognition and prediction methods and personalized servicestargeting methods disclosed herein may utilize various location-basedinformation 1102 and other data associated with a user (e.g., devicedata collected by a mobile device) in connection with matching a user toservices and delivering the services at targeted locations and/or times.In this context, various future location inference methods 1104,demographics inference methods 1106, and interest inferences methods1108 may be utilized. Future location inference methods 1104 mayinclude, for example, methods employing hidden Markov statisticalmodeling to predict likely locations a user will visit in the future.Demographic interference methods 1106 may utilize a variety ofprediction models to determine, based on the location information 1102,various demographic information including, for example, gender, age,income level, marital status, and/or the like. Interest inferencesmethods 1108 may utilize a variety of prediction models to determine,based on the location information 1102, various user interestinformation including, for example, dining interests, shoppinginterests, vacation interests, driving interests, and/or the like.

FIG. 12 illustrates an exemplary system 1200 that may be used toimplement embodiments of the systems and methods disclosed herein. Theexemplary system 1200 may comprise a mobile device, an activityrecognition and/or prediction system, a service provider system, and/orany other system configured to implement embodiments of the systems andmethods disclosed herein. As illustrated in FIG. 12, the system 1200 mayinclude: a processing unit 1202; system memory 1204, which may includehigh speed random access memory (“RAM”), non-volatile memory (“ROM”),and/or one or more bulk non-volatile computer-readable storage mediums(e.g., a hard disk, flash memory, etc.) for storing programs and otherdata for use and execution by the processing unit 1202; a port 1206 forinterfacing with removable memory 1208 that may include one or morediskettes, optical storage mediums (e.g., flash memory, thumb drives,USB dongles, compact discs, DVDs, etc.) and/or other non-transitorycomputer-readable storage mediums; a network interface 1210 forcommunicating with other systems via one or more network connections1230, and the like using one or more communication technologies; a userinterface 1216 that may include a display and/or one or moreinput/output devices such as, for example, a touchscreen, a keyboard, amouse, a track pad, and the like; and one or more busses 1232 forcommunicatively coupling the elements of the system 1200. In certainembodiments, the system 1200 may include and/or be associated with oneor more sensors (not shown) configured to collect various device data,including any of the types of sensors disclosed herein.

In some embodiments, the system 1200 may, alternatively or in addition,include a secure processing unit (“SPU”) 1214 that is protected fromtampering by a user of system 1200 or other entities by utilizing securephysical and/or virtual security techniques. An SPU 1214 can helpenhance the security of sensitive operations such as personalinformation management, trusted credential and/or key management,privacy and policy management, and other aspects of the systems andmethods disclosed herein. In certain embodiments, the SPU 1214 mayoperate in a logically secure processing domain and be configured toprotect and operate on secret information, as described herein. In someembodiments, the SPU 1214 may include internal memory storing executableinstructions or programs configured to enable to the SPU 1214 to performsecure operations, as described herein.

The operation of the system 1200 may be generally controlled by aprocessing unit 1202 and/or a SPU 1214 operating by executing softwareinstructions and programs stored in the system memory 1204 (and/or othercomputer-readable media, such as removable memory 1208). The systemmemory 1204 may store a variety of executable programs or modules forcontrolling the operation of the system 1200. For example, the systemmemory 1204 may include an operating system (“OS”) 1218 that may manageand coordinate, at least in part, system hardware resources and providefor common services for execution of various applications and a trustand privacy management system 1220 for implementing trust and privacymanagement functionality including protection and/or management ofpersonal information. The system memory 1204 may further include,without limitation, communication software 1222 configured to enable inpart communication with and by the system 1200, applications 1224 (e.g.,media applications), an inference engine 1226 configured to implementcertain activity and/or location recognition and/or targeted servicesmethods disclosed herein, device data 1228, and/or any other informationand/or applications configured to implement embodiments of the systemsand methods disclosed herein.

The systems and methods disclosed herein are not inherently related toany particular computer, electronic control unit, or other apparatus andmay be implemented by a suitable combination of hardware, software,and/or firmware. Software implementations may include one or morecomputer programs comprising executable code/instructions that, whenexecuted by a processor, may cause the processor to perform a methoddefined at least in part by the executable instructions. The computerprogram can be written in any form of programming language, includingcompiled or interpreted languages, and can be deployed in any form,including as a standalone program or as a module, component, subroutine,or other unit suitable for use in a computing environment. Further, acomputer program can be deployed to be executed on one computer or onmultiple computers at one site or distributed across multiple sites andinterconnected by a communication network. Software embodiments may beimplemented as a computer program product that comprises anon-transitory storage medium configured to store computer programs andinstructions, that when executed by a processor, are configured to causethe processor to perform a method according to the instructions. Incertain embodiments, the non-transitory storage medium may take any formcapable of storing processor-readable instructions on a non-transitorystorage medium. A non-transitory storage medium may be embodied by acompact disk, digital-video disk, a magnetic tape, a Bernoulli drive, amagnetic disk, a punch card, flash memory, integrated circuits, or anyother non-transitory digital processing apparatus memory device.

Although the foregoing has been described in some detail for purposes ofclarity, it will be apparent that certain changes and modifications maybe made without departing from the principles thereof. It should benoted that there are many alternative ways of implementing both thesystems and methods described herein. Accordingly, the presentembodiments are to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive,and the invention is not to be limited to the details given herein, butmay be modified within the scope and equivalents of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of providing a targeted service to amobile device associated with a user, the method performed by a systemcomprising a processor and a non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, causethe system to perform the method, the method comprising: receiving, atan interface of the system, device data from the mobile device;identifying one or more first locations associated with the user basedon the device data; identifying at least one departure time of the userfrom the one or more first locations based on the device data;identifying one or more second locations based on the one or more firstlocations and the at least one departure time from the one or more firstlocations, wherein identifying the one or more second locationscomprises modeling a probability of one or more candidate locationsbeing visited by the user after the one or more first locations based,at least in part, on the at least one departure time and selecting theone or more second locations from the one or more candidate locationsbased on a relative probability associated with the one or more secondlocations; determining one or more scores associated with one or morecandidate entities based, at least in part, on the one or more secondlocations and the at least one departure time from the one or more firstlocations; identifying at least one targeting entity from the one ormore candidate entities based on the one or more scores; andtransmitting, from the interface, content information associated withthe at least one targeting entity to the user of the mobile device. 2.The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more first locations compriseat least one location cluster.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the oneor more second locations comprise at least one location cluster.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the content information comprises at leastone advertisement associated with the targeting entity.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, wherein one or more scores are further based, at least in part,on a frequency of prior visits to the one or more second locations bythe user.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more scores arefurther based, at least in part, on a number of prior visits to the oneor more second locations by the user.
 7. The method of claim 1, whereinthe one or more scores are further based, at least in part, on aduration of prior visits to the one or more second locations by theuser.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more scores arefurther based, at least in part, on a mode of travel the user.
 9. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the device data comprises data obtained byone or more sensors of the mobile device.
 10. The method of claim 1,wherein the device data comprises location information of the mobiledevice.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the device data comprisesdata generated based on user interaction with the mobile device.
 12. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the device data comprises spatial historicaltravel patterns of the user of the mobile device.
 13. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the device data comprises temporal historical travelpatterns of the user of the device.
 14. The method of claim 1, whereinidentifying the one or more second locations further comprisesdetermining that the one or more second locations are associated with arelative probability exceeding a threshold.
 15. The method of claim 1,wherein the probability of the one or more candidate locations beingvisited by the user after the one or more first locations is modeledusing a hidden Markov model.
 16. The method of claim 1, wherein modelingthe probability of the one or more candidate locations being visited bythe user after the one or more first locations is based on historicaldevice data collected by the mobile device.
 17. The method of claim 1,wherein the method further comprises: estimating one or more arrivaltimes at the one or more second locations based on the one or more firstlocations and the at least one departure time from the one or more firstlocations.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein determining the one ormore scores associated with the one or more candidate entities isfurther based, at least in part, on the one or arrival times at the oneor more second locations.